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Contrary to many's expectations of fantastic
bird diversity in the tropics or near tropics, central Florida's bird species diversity
actually takes a significant dive in the summer, once all the migrants have left.
There are still plenty of interesting birds and fascinating behaviors to be seen though.

The last of the migrants were
the bobolinks (left), which were gone by mid-May. The breeding passerines are
interesting, but not particularly species rich. Blue grosbeaks (right) arrived about the
time the bobolinks left, and a few have been singing and presumably nesting in the drier
areas of the flow-way.

Its something of a mystery why breeding bird
diversity is so low in Florida; it's sometimes explained (unsatisfactorily, in my view) by
the "peninsular effect", which is simply an observation that peninsular
landforms have lower species diversity than continental areas at the same latitude.
It doesn't explain why, though. There seems to be an abundance of habitat at
Emeralda superficially suitable for many of the breeding birds common in old fields
and disturbed habitats further north, but many species simply don't use it (many sparrow
species, for example), and others that are present in Florida are scarce at Emeralda
(indigo buntings, for example).

No shortage of breeding herons,
and egrets, though. The rookeries on the northwest corner of the flow-way are
constantly bustling with activity from about late March on. The composition of the
breeding species seems to change fairly rapidly as early-nesting species get their young
out and the later-nesting species are still feeding nestlings. That's a cattle egret
on the left, in high breeding plumage and color, carrying a stick for nest-building. The
number of anhingas on and off the rookeries is sometimes stunning. A female in
breeding color, as indicated by the greenish skin around her eye, is below, and on the
right is a small section of one of the anhinga rookeries. Other common species at
the rookeries include snowy egrets, tricolored herons, little blue herons, white and
glossy ibis, and great blue herons.

Other wading birds are present in
the marshes, but either don't nest in rookeries, or don't nest in the parts of
the rookeries I can see from my census route. Huge flocks of great egrets
(left) and snowy egrets are sometimes seen in frenzied feeding
forays throughout the flow-way. Other species are more solitary, and less
conspicuous. The least bittern (right) is an example. These tiny
little herons are fairly common in the marshes, but are very secretive, and I
rarely see them in the open, and then, never for long. Another
heron that I began seeing in the last month or so is the yellow-crowned night
heron (center); there have been 3 or 4 of these birds at the same spot along my
census for the last 5 or 6 weeks, but they are fairly shy, and usually retreat
before I can get a decent shot.

Other species of the wetland habitats that
are generally conspicuous throughout the summer are the purple gallinules and black-necked
stilts (below).

The purple gallinules are still a bit too
shy for my tastes - they rarely let me get any closer than about 50 meters or so, and if
so, they are incredibly wary and sensitive to movement. They usually flush as soon
as I try to photograph them. The stilts, on the other hand, are usually pretty
tolerant of my presence. One pair has been at the same spot nearly every week since
they returned from their winter range; one week, they were joined by a second pair, and
apparently were having some dispute about who belonged where. The four birds stood
in the middle of the road, yipped back and forth at each other, and occasionally two of
the rivals would fly up a couple of feet off the ground towards each other and battle
(kind of) in mid-air. One pair eventually got the message and split.